George Lutz, Sr.

He’s Known Eight Michigan Presidents

(George Lutz, Unpretentious and Sincere, is the Campus Compendium of Information – He has watched and has had His Share in the Growth of the University)

Do you remember way back when the “ole swim-min’ hole” was located just behind the present Dental Clinic Building; when three other houses like the President’s home skirted the Campus, one adjacent to Dr. Ruthven’s residence on South University and two others in similar positions on North University; when the only fire protection that Ann Arbor had was a bunch of buckets with hand pumps and hose attachments; when Felch Park (just northeast of the Michigan League Building) was a city cemetery; when the news of Lincoln’s assassination came over the wires; when all University deliveries were made in a little hand-operated wheel cart; when the first office building was constructed on State Street?

If you can’t remember these and a lot more of the facts of early University and Ann Arbor history harkens to the man who does, George J. Lutz, Sr., Painter-Foreman of the University since he was hired in 1888 by President Angell, Treasurer Harrison Soule, and Secretary James Henry Wade.

In the days when Lutz first was hired to do the University painting, he had so little to do that he was pressed into janitor service and a thousand and one odd ‘jobs. In the summer of 1931, he found it necessary to keep moving at top speed in the direction of a painting crew of thirty-nine men.                                                                                           

The situation has not developed suddenly. There has been a gradual increase of responsibility from the time that local newspapers hailed a University enrollment of 1,000, as the limit beyond which no institution could travel, to the present when enrollments of more than 10,000 are not infrequent on the Campus.  

With the passing of time has come to a change in the physical features of the town and of the University, a spiritual change in the shift from agrarianism to industrialism. And mentally George Lutz has recorded all of these developments. Today he treasures them almost as much as his personal memories of every president of the University except Dr. Tappan, who inhabited the Executive Mansion even before Lutz was born.

He is a man of civic interests as well. The Ann Arbor Rotary Club, of which he was an active member, recognized this distinction in presenting him with a watch in 1923 in appreciation of fifteen years of service on the City Council where his son, a member of the local school board, has been maintaining the family tradition for the past six years.

But let’s give George Lutz himself a chance to tell some of the stories.

“I was born in Ann Arbor on Ashley Street in 1858.  My father and mother were among the early German settlers in Washtenaw County, coming here on the Michigan Central in 1854. I remember well the story of how they crossed over in a sailboat. It took them thirty-seven days. I, myself, can remember quite clearly as far back as 1864.

“People often wonder how I came to know President Haven personally. Well, it wasn’t my fault. You see Dr. Haven at one time owned a block of stores on Huron Street which he had built and in which he was unable to rent the third-floor space. He donated the third floor for a Mission Sunday School and he himself used to talk to the students. I, by family command, had to go to Sunday School. And that is how I became personally acquainted with Dr. Haven. I’ve known personally every President of the University since that time. One of my treasures is an autographed copy of Dr. Angell’s biography. I don’t know anyone that I liked better than President Burton.

“I used to know most of the students when the University was smaller. They weren’t the bad bunch people say they were. It’s true that on Halloween night the entire University working crew did sentry duty over the wooden Campus walks. And it’s true that the crew couldn’t stop the students from tearing up some of the walks. But it was about time for those old things to be torn up anyway. And the students just had fun.  They never damaged any of the buildings. I remember one morning when a rooster was found tied to the lightning rod on the dome of University Hall. But there was no harm done—the rooster just crowed.

“You know Ann Arbor really started on the North side of the river in what later was called ‘lower town’ and which is now the north side of the fifth ward.   As the town grew, University men played a big part in civic affairs. Dean Emeritus Mortimer Cooley was once President of the City Council. Bradley Thompson, former Professor of Law, was Mayor. Many other faculty men held city positions.

“I remember when the first Chinese students came to the Campus in about ’71. They were real curiosities then and everyone used to stop and stare at them. But that was before the days of Chinese laundries.

“Just about where Natural Science Building and the Chemistry Building now stand were the two houses like the President’s home. Later those buildings were used as offices for the two long wooden hospital buildings built behind them. And still later when the University delivery service became important enough to merit a horse cart, the University bought a horse, and horse barns were constructed between the hospitals on North University Avenue. Yes, the handcart delivery went out of style and was replaced by a two-wheel horse-drawn delivery wagon, which was sufficient for the needs of the entire school. That is all changed now.  Even the old chapel on the ground floor of University Hall has disappeared.   Thirty or forty years ago I used to ring the tower bell every day but Saturday at twenty minutes of nine for chapel services for the whole student body. Either the President or Dr. Frieze (later acting President) or Professor D’Ooge (Rev. Martin Luther D’Ooge, Late Professor Emeritus of Greek) usually conducted the brief services.

“I used to keep my paints in the basement of the Library where I was also a janitor. I got my first real paint shop about 1895 when I was given the brick outhouse adjoining the old boiler room on the site of the present faculty parking space. The picture I have here shows the paint crew of the summer of about ’09 standing in front of that paint shop. (See picture on this page).

“You know,” the 73-year-old walking compendium of University history confessed, “it’s a funny thing.   Here I am going to be 74 next January and I’ve always enjoyed good health and I don’t know why it is except perhaps that I was careful because people always told me that I was sick. I had to leave school (Union School, burned down on the site of present Ann Arbor High School) when I was twelve and went to work in a furniture shop. That’s where I first learned to handle a brush. Then I sold shoes in a Main Street store from ’72 to ’76. Had to stop that because the doctors told me I had consumption and had to be out in the air. So I quit and went to work as a blacksmith. It’s funny about that sickness business. All of the others have gone but I’m still in perfect health. Oh yes, I know I’m getting older. You can’t fool me about that. But I’m still active and able to handle my growing job without any trouble.

“You know sometimes I feel that I’m the only one left.  I knew so many people and they’re all gone.  I was born on the West side and used to know everyone there but now when I walk around there no one knows me. “

We could have listened for hours to stories about students, professors, the University, and about its Presidents but our time was limited and George Lutz had to get back to his desk where he supervises maintenance work for all University buildings except the Hospital. Sign work, cabinet repair, glass sets, shade repair, and placement are some of the tasks within his department.

He is a conscientious worker. Anxious to see that the equipment for which he was responsible in the new Legal Research Library was finished satisfactorily he made two personal trips recently, one to a northern manufacturing center and the other to the East coast, for the sole purpose of staining doors and other fittings himself to ensure their perfection.

Whether or not George Lutz is still remembered on the “West side,” he is a familiar figure on the Campus. Everyone knows and most people claim that he knows more about things concerning the University than any other person. He has a son, George, Jr., who has been connected with Dr. Novy’s department in the University Hospital for almost thirty years. And if you want to see his chest swell with pride just ask him about his two grandchildren, especially three-year-old Jackie, son of his married daughter, Henrietta Lutz Halberg.

The Michigan Alumnus

October 24, 1931, Page 65